Now open in parts of Westchester — Check your ZIP code →

Frequently asked questions

How receipts get read, how to back-fill your history, what we keep (and never keep), and everything in between.

What happens to my receipt data? Are you selling it?

We never sell anything that identifies you. We keep stores, products, and prices — never your identity — and the price data we learn carries no link back to you, staying de-identified even after you delete your account. We do license that de-identified price data (see how we make money), but never your name, your receipts, or anything personal. We're privacy-first by architecture, not by policy.

How does Pantry Deals make money?

Never by selling you. During early access it's free. Longer term, two ways — both pointed at a smaller bill, not a bigger one: optional premium features you choose to pay for, and de-identified market price data — individual price observations and aggregate stats like the median price of a product in your area this month — licensed to retailers, researchers, and market analysts. That data carries no name, email, account, or receipt grouping and can't be traced back to you; we never sell your identity, your receipts, or anything personal. Our incentive stays the same as yours: help you spend less. The details are in our privacy policy.

My card number, loyalty ID, and name are printed right on the receipt — do you keep all that?

We black it out. Once we've read a receipt, an automated step burns black boxes over the payment-card number and tender block, loyalty and membership codes, your name, phone, email and address, and the barcode — in the copy we store — then permanently deletes the unredacted original. On PDFs we go further and strip out the underlying text, so it can't be copied back. It doesn't touch the store, line items, prices, or dates, and parsing always runs on the original first, so your price history reads fine. It's automated and best-effort — it can miss a spot on a blurry or oddly formatted receipt, so we won't call it a guarantee — but hiding what identifies you is baked into how the product works, not bolted on as a policy. Separately, we strip embedded metadata — including EXIF and GPS location tags — from every photo the moment it's uploaded. The full details are in our privacy policy.

I'm starting from zero — can I back-fill my purchase history?

Yes — and it's the best first move. Costco and Whole Foods both keep your past receipts online, and our parsers read those PDFs exactly, line by line:

  • Costco: sign in at costco.com, open Orders & Purchases, switch to the In-Warehouse tab for store trips, then View Receipt and print or save each one as a PDF. Costco keeps roughly the last two years. Full walkthrough.
  • Whole Foods: purchases scanned with your Prime code live in your Amazon account. Fastest path: request your order history from Amazon (Request My Data) and import the whole CSV in one go under Settings → Back-fill your history. Or save individual receipts as PDFs from Returns & Orders. Full walkthrough.

Then drag the whole stack onto the Upload page in one go. Every receipt parses automatically, and your price history, staples, and store comparisons fill in retroactively — months of insight on day one.

Is this just another app I have to babysit?

No new chore. It reads receipts you already get — forward a store email or snap a photo and you're done. It replaces grocery mental math; it doesn't add a task. You keep shopping exactly where you already shop.

Will it actually read my receipt correctly?

Built for accuracy, honest when it's unsure. Digital order PDFs are read by exact-text parsers — no OCR guesswork; photos use AI vision with a self-check on the total. Anything ambiguous lands in a one-click “needs review” queue, and you can fix any line by hand. We'd rather flag uncertainty than fake a number.

Which stores does it work with?

PDF receipts from Whole Foods, Costco, and DeCicco & Sons are read by exact-text parsers built for each store's format. Paper receipts from any grocery store can be added as photos — AI vision reads them, and they build your price history all the same. Want first-class support for your store? Request it from Settings and it goes straight to us.

How is this different from Ibotta, Fetch, or coupons?

Those services are funded by brands — Ibotta and Fetch get paid by CPG companies when you buy promoted products, so their model is built around purchases. We're different by design: no brand pays us to push anything. We show you where your whole basket is cheaper and surface one verified deal per product instead of a coupon firehose. Their incentive points toward buying more; ours points toward a smaller bill. We win when you spend less.

Do I have to change where I shop?

No. The whole point is the cheapest basket within the stores you already use. We only suggest splitting a trip across two stores when it genuinely saves money.

Can my whole household use it together?

Yes. Create a household and invite your partner or roommates — everyone's receipts feed one shared history, and everyone adds to the same shopping list. The savings math runs on what your household actually buys, not just one person's trips.

What does it cost?

Nothing during early access — no card, no trial countdown. And however we make money later, it will never be ads, brand promotions, or selling your identity. That's the point of the product.

Where is Pantry Deals available?

The beta is open in parts of Westchester County, NY, and it's invite-based. Check your ZIP on the home page — if you're in the area, sign up with your invite code; if not, join the waitlist and we'll let you in as we expand nearby.

Still curious?

The fastest answer is your own receipts — your first one takes about ten seconds.

Get started — it's free